The present invention relates to belts, and more particularly concerns an inexpensive plastic belt designed to simulate the appearance of an expensive leather belt.
It has long been a goal of belt manufacturers to be able to produce an inexpensive belt made at least partially of plastic which simulates the appearance of an expensive leather belt. While there have been commercially successful attempts to produce such belts from composite materials, such as plastic with a backing of bonded leather (i.e., an amalgam of leather scrap, paper and glue) or similar material secured thereto, the labor-intensive manufacturing process used in such attempts does not permit the overall belt costs (including material and manufacturing costs) to be reduced as much as desired despite the reduction in the cost of materials. It is believed that these efforts failed, first, to make the belt strap exclusively of plastic and, second, to utilize cost-saving manufacturing techniques necessary to enable such a belt to be produced extremely inexpensively without compromising its aesthetic quality. A further disadvantage of the belts made from composite materials is the tendency of the straps to delaminate, with separation of the plastic and the backing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive belt simulating the appearance of an expensive leather belt strap, but having an inexpensive belt strap formed exclusively of molded plastic.
Another object is to provide a method of manufacturing such belts which enables the manufacturing cost, as well as the material cost, to be greatly reduced.
A further object is to provide a manufacturing intermediate for use in such a manufacturing method which reduces manufacturing costs by permitting handling of a sizable plurality of belts, through various stages of the manufacturing process, as a unit.
It is also an object to provide such a belt with apparatus for quickly and inexpensively connecting the buckle and the belt strap.
It is a further object to provide such a belt with a belt loop which can be quickly and inexpensively assembled and put in place without requiring labor-intensive sewing or stapling.